Sacrament of Heaven
by Niyari
Summary: I want to be your canvas, paint the sky across my skin.


Disclaimer: Does it look like my name is J. K. Rowling? Do I look like a billionaire who created the amazing-ness-ness-ness that is Harry Potter? No? I didn't think so.

A/N: I'm trying to do my own take on how Seventh year would have turned out, and a twist on the relationships of Hogwarts students. But of course... I didn't much care for the evil ending of the sixth book, so some things have changed. **Slash warning**: Harry/Draco. Please don't flame because your a Homophobe, unless you really just hated the whole story anyway. **Spoilet alert**: Haven't read the sixth book? Get cracking before you read this fanfic.

Enjoy.

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**Sacrament of Heaven**

**Chapter One: Halloween**

The thick potion was cerulean with black glows and it smelled and tasted like mead. Harry stared at it and dished a small portion into a tiny vial, turning it into Professor Snape with a forced courtesy. The Potions master reluctantly took it, and finding no obvious fault, placed it among the other potions that would be graded. Harry turned back to his table and began packing the potions gear into his bag, his foul mood dissipating as he realized that nothing could go wrong, and Snape could not possibly fail him this time.

And then the bell rang. Harry sighed with relief, feeling his eyes widen in shock. He'd made it through Double Potions without any spills, gritted replies through his teeth, or complete failure. As Harry headed through the door, his mood elated when he met up with Ron, who'd been partnered with Seamus, and they began talking about the concoction they'd just brewed.

"Completely ludicrous. I hate N.E.W.T.S." Ron muttered, rubbing one side of his face. "Stupid git… Snape pulling out random pairs for the potion. You'd almost have stupid not to know that he put you with Malfoy on purpose."

Harry grimaced. "Don't remind me."

That was one more thing he had survived. Malfoy's insane whining and bullying. Double Potions minus all things that equaled detention was a good day in Harry's book.

"Well I think it was enlightening." Hermione said, popping into the conversation out of nowhere. "The Sacrament of Heaven is an incredibly rare and difficult potion to attempt. Getting the ingredients alone must have been difficult for Professor Snape."

"You sound as though you pity him." Ron remarked, rolling his eyes. "That blighter isn't worth it. If he wants to waste time giving us rare and difficult potions, he can make us do the Polyjuice Potion." Ron's entire face brightened. "There would be whole class periods where we'd do nothing. Absolutely nothing."

Harry snorted at his friend's wishful thinking. "Snape would never let there be a class where everyone did nothing. Imagine doing lines the whole time, next to cauldrons of that nasty liquid. He'd probably even make us turn ourselves into one another when the potion was finished."

Ron looked disappointed. "It was just a thought."

They trudged down the halls in silence, Harry watching as the droves of Hogwarts students made their way to the Great Hall for supper. He suddenly realized he was famished.

"Did Malfoy give you too much trouble, Harry?" Hermione asked conversationally.

"It's Malfoy, of course he said something. A few snide comments, but it was alright."

Hermione shot him a glance. "He gloated, didn't he? About your being wrong? About the whole of sixth year?"

"Something to that effect, yeah." Harry got a disturbing mental image of the night Dumbledore had been killed and Draco had run from Hogwarts with Snape. The sight of Dumbledore's body crumpling played so realistically in his head, he fought hard to keep from retching.

The space before them opened up into the magnificent area of the Great Hall. Students were already seated beneath the vast ceiling, portraying a brilliant October sunset this evening, and hundreds of bewitched pumpkins, each carved with a sneering face and a Non-Extinguishable Candle inside. Harry smiled.

Halloween at Hogwarts was always eventful.

Ginny, Dean, and Seamus beckoned the threesome over to a spot at the Gryffindor table and the chatter immediately began. Ron, Dean, and Seamus dived into a discussion that mostly involved bad-mouthing the Potions Master, and Hermione was chatting amicably with Ginny over a book they had discovered in the library. Harry stared at nothing in particular, wishing everyone would hurry to dinner so he could relish in the tasty treats that came with every Halloween Feast.

His eyes flitted over the staff table, settling for a moment at the head chair where Dumbledore proudly sat, smiling at his students. Harry felt his green eyes begin to mist over.

The Headmaster of Hogwarts was, and always had been, alive. Due to no fault of Harry's, everyone in student and teacher at Hogwarts had believed that Dumbledore was dead and that Snape had killed him. In fact, the truth was quite the opposite. Snape truly had switched sides, and had faked the murder to save Draco from Lord Voldemort's ultimate punishment. Life time in his servitude.

The funeral had also been a fluke. The marble casing that had seemed to cover Dumbledore's corpse had in fact enveloped a dead Ashbone Nymph that had grown in the Forbidden Forest.

When it had been revealed to Harry that Dumbledore was alive, he'd nearly killed the born-again Headmaster. Harry smirked at his brash approach to relief a few months prior.

"_Don't you ever scare me like that again! Do you know what I went through, grieving, and mourning your death? You were the only adult I really trusted and knew in all of the Wizarding World, and you had the gall to die? I can't believe you!"_

The following conversations had been equally hilarious.

And… Voldemort was, of course, gone.

In his fury to conceal all emotion, Harry had trekked through more than his share of horrors to find the Horcruxes and destroy them. Afterwards, clues to the Dark Lord's whereabouts had led Harry to the final duel, and to partake in the hardest venture of his life. He shivered and diverted his mind. Today was not a day to think about the past, today was a time to live. Today was Halloween, he should have been enjoying himself.

Dumbledore stood to his full height and smiled. The entire Great Hall fell into a hush and the Headmaster nodded solemnly, as if in acknowledgement of a question. "Students, Faculty, and Ghostly guests, I have a few words to say before we all delve into what I am sure will become a very handsome stomach ache. Those words are, Nitwit, Oddball, Blubber, and Twit." He smiled as Harry and his fellow Seventh years roared with laughter, remembering the first time he'd said those exact words in their First Year at the Welcoming Feast. "Tuck in."

The food appeared suddenly in great mounds. Harry struck at the nearest platters and piled the food onto his dishes. Ron did the same next to him and Hermione rolled her eyes, sighing under her breath. Harry swore he heard her mutter, "Honestly."

The chatting immediately rose to a crescendo of laughter and words. Harry laughed at an adamant argument between Ron and Hermione over the Transfiguration homework, but his mind wandered greatly. About half way though the meal, Harry found his eyes wandering again. They settled, finally, over Malfoy at the Slytherin table and his gut twisted awkwardly. His eyes narrowed when Malfoy looked back, and from all the way across the Great Hall, he felt the chill in his enemy's eyes.

"_You couldn't let the old grudge go, could you Potter?"_

"_Shove it Malfoy, get to work." _

_The blond stared_. _"You can't get over the fact that I was never going to join forces with the dark side, and that your most hated Professor really didn't do anything wrong. You would have loved it if Snape had really been the evil bastard he always pretends to be."_

"_I said shove it." _

"_Face it Potter. You didn't want me and Snape to be on your side. Now that we are, now that we're _all_ in the Order… what are you going to do?" Malfoy had sneered, whispering the words in Harry's ear when Snape had passed to avoid the Potion's Master hearing. _

"_Why do you care?"_

"_Because perfect Potter was wrong." The breath in Harry's ear had made him shiver uncontrollably. "And he doesn't care to admit it."_

"_I get it, okay Malfoy. Back the hell up and do your work."_

_The Slytherin had sniggered in victory and continued to finely slice the Boomslang Skin. _

Harry watched the gray eyes, unmoving in their stillness. Then one sleek eyebrow arched in mocking question. Harry returned the look. He could feel the question reverberating between them.

Curious?

Harry sat back and smiled. He hated Malfoy. He despised him. Of course he was curious. Curious about why they were staring. Such an interesting notion.

Malfoy smirked back.

* * *

The moonlight was filtering through the curtains, lighting Harry's view of his bed. His eyes closed and opened again, watching the clouds on the sky. He sat up, suddenly, inexplicably frustrated with himself and the world around him. He tossed the coverlets aside and found the tattered trainers beneath his bed, shoving them on his feet. Harry threw his cloak around his shoulders and shoved his wand in the pocket, the Marauders Map in hand.

The halls were nearly empty, the entry way to the grounds full of no obstacles. Harry burst through the great doors with relief and he sighed. The air was crisp, frosty; he could see his breath in bursts before him. The grass was already covered with dew from the chill. Harry cut a path through the grounds to the lake.

At the waters edge he felt the stress fall away. The moonlight that had been falling across his pillow just minutes before was now crossing the lake, casting a white glow in the black water.

Harry stooped in the grass, removed his wand, and cast a drying charm on the damp grass. His cloak wrapped itself around his body, shielding the chill. Harry stared.

There was so much nothing out here. The air was still. The environment quiet. Harry sighed and the sound reverberated through the air, nothing to block it, nothing to stop it.

Then there was another sound.

"Hello Potter."

Harry jumped and his hand dove for his wand. Mentally he berated himself for being so unaware. In earlier months those few precious moments of blissful unawareness could have cost him his life.

"Don't freak out Pot-head. I'm not going to curse you."

Harry stared upwards at the tall figure beside him. "What do you want Malfoy?"

The blond looked at him and back at the lake. "Mind if I sit."

Harry shrugged and floated back into his state of sharp awareness, unwilling to allow himself to be taken off-guard around Malfoy. "What do you want?" He repeated when Malfoy sat down on another patch of dried grass.

"Why were you staring at me during dinner?"

"I felt someone staring at me. I don't like not knowing who has their eyes one me."

"Why did you stare back?"

Draco smirked. "Full of questions, aren't we?" He twiddled a piece of grass through his fingers. "Is it possible I just didn't want to look away?"

Harry stood up suddenly and kicked a pebble at the glassy surface of the lake. "I don't like you Malfoy. I never have, and never will. Just because we're on the same side doesn't mean you can drop the façade of light versus dark that you had going for six years. Daddy may not be around to tell you what to do or how to behave anymore, but I'm sure that you being nice does not equal a fast friendship."

Draco bit at his bottom lip, smiling to himself. "Who said I wanted to be friends?"

"Then why are you suddenly all talkative? Why do you take pleasure in tormenting me?"

"Ah." Draco smiled. "But that's just it. I love tormenting you. I always have."

Harry thought back on his years at Hogwarts, the times when he'd had a row with Malfoy and the consequences hadn't mattered. The Dueling Club in second year that had caused both Malfoy and himself to go flying across the stage with curse after curse. The days he could have decked him simply for existing.

"That's for damn sure." Harry grumbled, pushing his hair back off his face. His glasses glinted in the moonlight. "Stay away from me Malfoy. Or I'll make sure you can't."

"Is that a threat, or a promise?" The Slytherin stood up; standing uncomfortably close in comparison to the rest of the empty world. Harry could have sworn all time had stopped in that moment when he'd pulled Harry's cloak and forced him closer. He could have said it was an accident, but that wouldn't have been right. Malfoy's chest was pressed to his upper arm, his chin tilted at Harry's ear.

"I will never stop trying. One of these days, you'll notice that you can't get rid of me."

"What are you talking about?"

Harry gasped when the tip of Malfoy's tongue found his earlobe. He shuddered.

"I will never stop."

Harry pushed him away. "What are you getting at?" He rubbed furiously at his ear.

"I don't want to be friends Harry. I want more than that. I offered my friendship in first year… now I'm offering you more."

Harry stared at him, incredulously. "Not interested."

The trek back to the castle was long, Malfoy watching his back the whole way.

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End-1

Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think... and be totally truthful! Constructive Criticsm is appreciated.


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